Research and Transfer
The Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering developed and implemented an e-learning course on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS) for capacity building. The goal of the course was to foster the deployment of well-planned and managed SPIS and thereby contribute towards the nexus, energy - water - food security and powering agriculture in developing countries.
The target group of the e-learning course are agricultural consultants in regions where solar irrigation would not be possible without solar powered pumps. These consultants are being trained in order to familiarise local farmers with the possibilities of solar irrigation, but also academic staff, NGOs and governmental institutions.
The educational project was financed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Additionally, the Ostfalia Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering cooperated with e-learning and video production specialist Margraf Publishers GmbH and Hans Hartung, proven expert on SPIS.
The SPIS E-Learning platform on "dis-course".
The e-learning course is based on the comprehensive Toolbox on SPIS , developed by GIZ and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to assist the planning and implementation of Solar Powered Irrigation Systems.
The e-learning course was developed to promote the Toolbox on SPIS and provide guidance for its use and application. The pilot course was held over six weeks in June and July 2019 on an online platform called “dis-course” and consisted of four modules:
Three related webinars and a final multiple-choice test were also included. After the application period, 120 international participants, mostly from African countries, were selected to attend the pilot course. Staff members of Ostfalia University with relevant technical skills were trained to be so called e-tutors. They were responsible for organising the webinars, forum discussions, assignments and providing the participants with the required guidance to conduct the e-learning course. Certificates were assigned to the successful participants in the end.
During this project, international experts in the field of solar powered irrigation from Nepal,
Senegal, Ivory Coast and Iran supported the team of Ostfalia University by holding webinars with
relevant topics and providing expert support in forums and discussions on the online platform. They
shared their experiences with the participants in a dynamic environment.
Campus tour in the hydraulic laboratory on campus Suderburg during the international workshop.
Subsequent to the e-learning course, a workshop was held at Ostfalia University in Suderburg in August 2019, hosting international experts and representative partners from GIZ and Margraf Publishers. To analyse the team’s performance and improve the course the goal of the workshop was to discuss the course format and the results of the e-learning course. As a next step, the course will also be provided in French.
Please contact Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Röttcher for more information on this international activity.
